smk4565

Well other cars in that class don't have that high of an ATP. The S-class has $23k in options on average, only the Porsche 911, Cayman, Panamera, Audi A8 and Range Rover are sold at a greater dollar amount over the base model. And we know Porsche's have outrageous options lists and trim levels.

GLC sold great for month 1, the GLK was always a bit of a sales dud. I think the GLC will get growth in that segment. New E-class is coming and will raise car sales, the E-class is their oldest product right now and still their #3 seller. SLC and refreshed SL go on sale in spring, plus C-class coupe and hybrid sedan and S-class convertible. Lots of cars coming, C-class and E-class convertibles are in the works too giving Mercedes 5 convertibles. They have a huge car line up, but people buy crossovers.

ATS had a really good month. SRX must have some incentives on it, but people want crossovers and the SRX is an inexpensive luxury crossover compared to what some of the others cost. On the flip side the Malibu and Impala were down about 30%. People don't want sedans (or coupes) anymore. In 10 years Chevy will probably make 4 cars and 10 crossovers.

Car and Driver just did an article about the average transaction price of a car vs the base model price. The S-class has an ATP of $118,312, 24% over base price.

Hard to say buying an E-class would make you feel like you cheapened out since you didn't get an S-class. For one, the S-class is 13 inches longer than the 2017 E-class, the S-class is a really long car, some people just don't want a car that big. Secondly, there is about a $45,000 price difference between them, that is a lot. I do agree that it will sell like crazy though. The current car still sells well despite being in it's 7th model year, the A6 has looked the same for 10 years, the GS is ugly, and the Infiniti M-Q70-L is older than dirt with lots of name changes to cover up that fact. The E-class could take over this segment just like the S-class did the top.

This car isn't about lap times, but that makes it unique that it is about horsepower and top speed. And most people don't know which car is faster around the Nurburgring between the P1, 918 and LaFerrari, or at least they won't in 20 years, but they'll remember the Veyron had the highest top speed, just like everyone remembers the McLaren F1 was the fastest car of the 90s.

The Fiat-Alfa-Maserati trifecta is really lighting it up.

I guess the sales were "The best or nothing"

You have to wonder if it is time to close the Chrysler brand. Make the 200 the Dodge Avenger, and sell more Caravans and Chargers.

The S-class has a .23 CD, so apparently this is an aerodynamic shape. I imagine the AMG sport package will liven it up a bit, but the E-class was never a flashy looking car. I think this car looks better than the current car and the interior is light years ahead. The W212 interior I think is boring, it is well made, but not interesting. This car is definitely not cheap when you look at all the color and trim choices, aluminum switches, the auto pilot features, self parking, the optional 1,350 watt stereo, etc.

The tail lights are actually closer to an 08 C-class, aside from the current cars. I'd rather have seen them flip the tail light, make it more narrow at the top and wider at the bottom. Or make it more of a rectangle. I think the back end looks good as it is, but it also looks like the other 2 sedans. And to Drew's point they seem to be dragging their feet on the I-6, which makes no sense when it would share parts with the I-4 and have cost savings. The 3.0 turbo V6 is derived from the 3.5 V6, which dates back to 2010.

The challenge will be keeping the car on the ground, they will need a lot of down force. Challenge 2 is tires that don't burst. Making a 1,500 hp engine will be the easy part.

It looks like an E-class. I like that the headlights have 2 light bars and 2 LED squares or whatever they are since the E-class used to have the dual headlight set up, it pays tribute to that. I wish it looked a little more different than the C and S though, maybe use wider rear tail lights or something. A+ interior. I am more curious for the engines because I want the inline six. The turbo 4 in the C300 will be slow in this car, but CAFE will probably force it in. The 255 hp diesel six would be nice, but the VW diesel scandal will probably kill that. .23 drag coefficient for this car, which is remarkable.

Mercedes didn't rake in anything, they spent $38 billion to buy Chrysler and sold it for $7.4 billion. It was a bad idea from the start, cultures were too different, products too different. Daimler is better off without them, they can focus on their own car brand and their commercial truck brands.

I think the plan is for the Equinox to become this size and Chevy will get a Trailer blazer or something mid-size. The Terrain will be the XT5 size so bigger than Envision. That would keep overlap down on the GMC-Buick lots, with only Acadia and Enclave over lapping. I also think that most crossover buyers could care less where it comes form, as long as they sit up high, have all wheel drive and a nav screen with some apps they will be happy.

CT6, XT5, etc aren't even on sale yet and Johan has been on the job a year or two now. Even if they trademarked CT1 through CT100 he could have still pushed for word names if he wanted. I think he likes alpha-numerics because it he is a marketing guru and marketing gurus like to look smart when they design naming conventions. I think the type of executive does matter somewhat. Rick Wagoner was a finance guy, and look at how GM produced the lowest cost products possible under his tenure. He was about cutting product cost to feed the UAW labor cost and "managing the downward spiral." If you put an engineer at the top they are going to focus on engineering and product. Does Mercedes have an engineer running things? If not then does an engineer EVER get final say on a product in ANY company? I only ask this because last time I checked, Dieter Zetsche was not an engineer. And again, he did not come up with number scheme so why bother even mentioning it? You have been wrong on so many things here SMK, it is just baffling that you keep beating the same dead horse here. From being incorrect about platform origins to nitpicking naming schemes in Cadillacs, it is just baffling. Dieter Zetsche is an engineer, he has a PhD in engineering actually. Remember "Ask Dr. Z" But he is just the Daimler CEO. Probably the person what would have more influence on Mercedes cars would be Prof. Dr. Thomas Weber, and oh wait, he has a PhD in mechanical engineering. Tobias Moers, CEO of AMG, also has an engineering degree. Head of Daimler trucks Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, masters in engineering, masters in business, PhD in economics. And Mercedes, Freightliner, and Western Star make the best trucks. We'll see if Cadillacs marketing guys can beat Daimler's engineers, around 2020 all will be revealed. Sorry but I remember how those "engineers" treated Chrysler and then left them for dead with their "hand me down" platforms and tech. They have as much crap on their hands as the old guard at GM. They being engineers make it worse if you ask me because they did not act like engineers where Chrysler was concerned. They acted like bean counters with slick PR. Sound familiar? Jurgen Schrempp was Chairman and CEO from 1995-2005, sort of the dark days of Mercedes. He had an engineering background too, but he wasn't a very good CEO. Dr. Z is a really good CEO. Chrysler was pretty much beyond saving, and they did give Chrysler the Crossfire and the LX platform, and the Grand Cherokee is still based on a derived ML-class platform. Notice Chryslers only decent cars are derived from mid 2000s Mercedes. Perhaps the problem with that merger is Chrysler was still developing their own engines, transmissions and cars, the Crossfire was the only Chrysler with a Mercedes engine/transmission and chassis. IT was a failed merger, but if Chrysler didn't have Mercedes or Fiat platforms, they wouldn't have anything to sell except Ram trucks and a minivan.

Agreed, Lutz was a bit out there to be CEO, they did use him the right way. It would be nice if GM had a product guru that wasn't as radical (and sometimes senile) like Lutz was, that could run the show.

I heard on Autoline that by 2020 60-70% of Buicks sold in the USA could be made in China. They have to move Verano and Enclave production to there I'd imagine for that to happen. But GM could also use that as a scare tactic in negotiations with the UAW.

CT6, XT5, etc aren't even on sale yet and Johan has been on the job a year or two now. Even if they trademarked CT1 through CT100 he could have still pushed for word names if he wanted. I think he likes alpha-numerics because it he is a marketing guru and marketing gurus like to look smart when they design naming conventions. I think the type of executive does matter somewhat. Rick Wagoner was a finance guy, and look at how GM produced the lowest cost products possible under his tenure. He was about cutting product cost to feed the UAW labor cost and "managing the downward spiral." If you put an engineer at the top they are going to focus on engineering and product. Wagoner put Lutz in charge of product and that's when things started to turn around. A large part of GM's issue was the corporate culture. Prior to the BK, they were simply running out of cash to develop things properly. Even if the will was there to do it right, the cash wasn't. I didn't say the person at the top doesn't matter. They have to be competent and have an actual passion for the product, but they don't have to be an engineer. Wagoner, Henderson, Akerson... none had both the competence and passion for the product. Barra appears competent and passion for the product, and has the added benefit of having a cleaner slate to start with. I will agree with that, and Lutz did push for better products. If Lutz was CEO they would have even had better product. But the trio of econ/finance guys that only wanted to cut costs did GM no good. You don't need to be an engineer, but I think it helps when a "product guy" is in charge. Look at Apple when Jobs ran the show, when he was gone it was a disaster, when he was there they had the best products and profits were huge.

CT6, XT5, etc aren't even on sale yet and Johan has been on the job a year or two now. Even if they trademarked CT1 through CT100 he could have still pushed for word names if he wanted. I think he likes alpha-numerics because it he is a marketing guru and marketing gurus like to look smart when they design naming conventions. I think the type of executive does matter somewhat. Rick Wagoner was a finance guy, and look at how GM produced the lowest cost products possible under his tenure. He was about cutting product cost to feed the UAW labor cost and "managing the downward spiral." If you put an engineer at the top they are going to focus on engineering and product. Does Mercedes have an engineer running things? If not then does an engineer EVER get final say on a product in ANY company? I only ask this because last time I checked, Dieter Zetsche was not an engineer. And again, he did not come up with number scheme so why bother even mentioning it? You have been wrong on so many things here SMK, it is just baffling that you keep beating the same dead horse here. From being incorrect about platform origins to nitpicking naming schemes in Cadillacs, it is just baffling. Dieter Zetsche is an engineer, he has a PhD in engineering actually. Remember "Ask Dr. Z" But he is just the Daimler CEO. Probably the person what would have more influence on Mercedes cars would be Prof. Dr. Thomas Weber, and oh wait, he has a PhD in mechanical engineering. Tobias Moers, CEO of AMG, also has an engineering degree. Head of Daimler trucks Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, masters in engineering, masters in business, PhD in economics. And Mercedes, Freightliner, and Western Star make the best trucks. We'll see if Cadillacs marketing guys can beat Daimler's engineers, around 2020 all will be revealed.

I think all 200,000 prospective Malibu buyers should buy a Subaru. Then GM can stop making the Malibu, and then we won't have to complain about how they screwed it up again. They have gotten it wrong 4 generations in a row, looks like they are about to make it 5 in a row.

CT6, XT5, etc aren't even on sale yet and Johan has been on the job a year or two now. Even if they trademarked CT1 through CT100 he could have still pushed for word names if he wanted. I think he likes alpha-numerics because it he is a marketing guru and marketing gurus like to look smart when they design naming conventions. I think the type of executive does matter somewhat. Rick Wagoner was a finance guy, and look at how GM produced the lowest cost products possible under his tenure. He was about cutting product cost to feed the UAW labor cost and "managing the downward spiral." If you put an engineer at the top they are going to focus on engineering and product.

GM market share has been declining since 1991 I think. But that is besides the point. Once upon a time the Lexus GS and LS, Infiniti Q45, BMW 5-series and 7-series, and Jaguars, all had rwd only, even the first generation CTS from 03-07 was rear drive only. But in the late 90s Mercedes put all wheel drive on the S-class and E-class. (BMW at this time also had an all-wheel drive 3-series) Then in the early 2000s, and showed up on the 5-series and 7-series, in the mid-2000s the Lexus GS got it, around 2007 the LS460 and 2008 CTS got awd. Look how Jaguar and Genesis sales struggled in the north in 2009-2013, forcing them to add all wheel drive since it was pretty much expected by the luxury buyer. This could happen in the mid-size segment, the Malibu can be a pioneer now, or wait 10-15 years and be last to the party like Jaguar was in the luxury game and watch sales dwindle.

BMW should make a 3-series Grand Sedan then all will be right with the world.

If more people picked MPG over all wheel drive then Escape wouldn't outsell Focus and Fusion. And the Equinox wouldn't outsell the Malibu. Ford wouldn't sell 700,000 F150's if fuel economy was a primary concern of buyers, because I see a lot of pick ups that never tow or haul anything. An all wheel drive Malibu would outsell the entire Regal line, let alone a Regal wagon.